After hearing the hammered dulcimer at a Chicago area folk festival at the age of six, Max ZT was hooked. During his college years, Max travelled to Senegal, West Africa, to study the Mandinko technique with the Cissoko griot family. He has returned for a total of three trips to Senegal. Recently he returned from the first leg of his nine month fellowship to Mumbai, India, to study with santoor legend Panditji Shivkumar Sharma.

Max has combined these influences with the master musicians he has met in New York - six string electric bass wizard Moto Fukushima as well as many immensely talented percussionists. Their band House of Waters has just released their sophomore album to much acclaim. They have shared the stage with such luminaries as Bon Jovi, Jimmy Cliff, KODO, and Ravi Shankar.